


flawless

by Ultron



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 05:57:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14395746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultron/pseuds/Ultron
Summary: That night he makes her feel flawless.





	flawless

It's the first time she sees him shirtless, after a long day of training in the new facility's gym, when she realizes it: he's flawless.

Not a "he's so hot" flawless (though secretly she has to admit he's that too) but flawless in the sense he's without blemish. He's like a Greek marble statue: perfect physique, completely toned, and without any scars whatsoever.

Natasha's stunned when she notices it, can't stop staring, her eyes tracing every inch of him. She wonders if he can just feel her gaze on him or if the mirrors lining one wall of the gym give her away. Whatever way he catches her, he catches her.

"See something you like?" Steve gives her a playful grin when he turns to face her.

She hates being so caught off guard (it's a feeling she so rarely gets) and she hates it even worse that he looks so smug that he's the one who caught her off guard (though she hates neither of these two things as much as she hates how much she loves that grin on his face and that teasing tone in his voice).

She quickly composes herself (the heat is rising in her cheeks, she's fighting to ignore it) and just gives him a smirk of her own. "I've seen better."

He laughs a little as he takes a step toward her, wrapping his shirt around his neck. "Have you now?"

He stops in front of her and she watches as the florescent light makes the sweat on him glow (no one should actually look good covered in sweat and yet, of course, he does). His blue eyes are extra bright (she can see herself reflected in them). His blond hair isn't a lock out of place (it's dying for her to run her fingers through it). He licks a bead of sweat off his lips (if only she were kissing them).

Natasha's not in love with him. That much she knows. She'll never be in love with him because love is for children (even if it weren't it'd never be for her). However, ever since the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., they've been together, side by side, and she's been feeling this pull to him, emotionally and physically.

Since they've been leading these new Avengers, it's only been getting worse. She knows she shouldn't have such thoughts about him, that this is all a job, that it needs to be kept professional. But everyday she's around him, she grows closer to him. With each sparing match, each mission, each casual chat, each little teasing back-and-forth. 

She crosses her arms over her chest and gives him a nonchalant shrug as she steps around him (if she'd lingered a second longer...the line may have been crossed). "Yeah but I'd hate to make you jealous if you knew who it was."

He raises an eyebrow. "Now I'm curious. Who is it?" He starts making his way toward her, slowly, as if he wants to give her more time to admire him (she'll definitely take it whether he's being deliberate or not).

Natasha leans against the mirror, the glass cool against her burning skin. "Can't say. I'll just say he was amazing. It was like nothing I'd ever seen."

"Really?" he asks as he places a hand on the mirror by her head. He's closer this time than before and as she tries to formulate an answer Natasha feels like she's stumbled. She used to be a pro at seducing men (she's never loses her cool during a good teasing) but when it comes to him it's like she's a bumbling teenager. "I really have to know who it is now."

She can feel the tension in the air, can feel herself stepping closer to the edge of that line. In a panic, she blurts out a name to break the tension. "It's Hulk!"

Steve's eyes go wide and mentally she's hitting herself in the head (where the fuck did that come from?). She ducks her head in embarrassment, starts trying to think of what to say to back out of the strange hole she just dug when suddenly she hears a laugh.

She looks back up at him and watches as he tries to hold it back but it escapes him every time. Then it breaks into an outburst that she can't help but join in.

"The Hulk," begins Steve, between chuckles, "You know I have to admit he is like nothing I've ever seen. I wish I could be that big."

Natasha just leans her head back against the mirror, shaking it. "Oh gosh, please don't."

"But if that's what you like then..." 

She playfully hits him in the shoulder. "That is not what I like."

"What do you like then?" He leans closer to her again, bringing them back to where they were before: him giving her that look that's causing her to lick her lips and her fighting not to just pull him to her.

The next move she makes probably crosses a line, probably puts their whole friendship at risk but she does it anyway (it's like she's drunk just off the feeling she gets being with him). "I like brave, loyal, blond-haired, blue-eyed boys from Brooklyn." She cups the side of his face and gently pulls his lips to hers. 

Her first thought if that he's going to either pull away or push her away. Tell her how wrong this is. How he doesn't think about her like this. How she can't think about him like this.

Instead, he does the exact opposite. He draws her as close to him as physically possible, her clothed chest colliding with his bare one. Her hands move into his hair (so soft and luscious, why can't he have one fucking flaw) as one of his moves to rest on the small of her back while the other runs up and down it. Her heart's pounding in her chest (much harder than it did during their sparing) and the noise is like a drum banging in her ears.

Everything feels like they're on a separate plane of existence (as if they left the gym, the facility, the entire universe), like they're the one two people in the world. No one else matters right now besides him (let Wanda or Vision or Sam come find them, she just needs this to last as long as it can).

He pushes her harder against the mirror, her tee-shirt riding up as he shifts against her, and moves to kiss her neck. Her hands run over his chest (she can feel his muscles under his fingers) as his make their way to the hem of her shirt. He starts to lift it and as he does she feels his skin brush against the scar on her skin. It's then that the fantasty shatters like the mirror behind her and reality quickly sinks in.

"Steve, stop." She doesn't shout it or push him off or anything. Just makes the command to which he quickly obeys. He stares down at her, a guilty look in his eyes as if he's did something wrong (it's a look she never wants to see in eyes again). He opens mouth to say something but she quickly cuts him off.

"It's not...it's not this...it's not you..." she begins as she strokes his face. "It's..."

It's that underneath that tee she's not flawless. Quite the opposite: her body is littered with scars. The way society sees it the woman is the one who should have the unscathed body, the skin without a blemish, every inch pure perfection. Men can be scarred and rough and flawed; to be so is a badge of honor, a trophy from their battles.

Natasha's eyes dart to scar on her side (an unconscious motion) and his must follow because he runs his finger over it. A shiver goes her up spine and she turns to stare into his eyes. It's not a look of disgust but a look of love (a man's never looked at her scars like that).

"You can show me your scars." He whispers it like a secret, something only to be shared between the two of them (he's the only one she trusts to share it with).

"They're not pretty."

"Scars never are," he begins, "That doesn't mean you aren't though."

She's completely taken aback by his words, by the look on his face, by the gentle touch of his fingers against her scar. "Why...why would you even want to?"

"I want to see all the times you had to fight alone."

Silence envelops them as his words linger between them for a moment. Then, without speaking, she gently pushes his hand away and grabs the hem of her shirt. She pulls it off and drops it in the floor beside her, leaving her in just her sports bra. Normally, she always felt a little self-conscious when her scars were on display but as he looks at her she feels nothing but warmth from his gaze.

He steps closer to her again and reaches out to touch a bullet wound at the top of her rib cage (Budapest, Clint had to fish the bullet out). Then he trails up to a webbing of scars on her shoulder (Hospital Fire, she got trapped under piece of the ceiling, had to crawl out of the place before anyone came for her). She closes her eyes, just wanting to feel his tracing her body softly.

Suddenly he stops and leans his head against the glass to whisper in her ear. "I'll make sure you never get another one."

"I don't need protecting," she says, defensively.

He laughs, the vibrations shooting from her ear to her whole body. "Trust me, I know. I don't want to protect you. I just want to fight by your side, every battle, from now until our last. We'll take everything out together, before it can even touch you."

Natasha doesn't know how to respond; no one's ever reacted so positively to her scars, not even her (especially not her).

She wraps her arms around him and hold him tightly against her, just wanting to burn his moment into her brain. Then he places a kiss on the side of her head and whispers to her again, "Can I kiss them?"

"All you want," she whispers back, her playful tone coming back to her. She then pulls away from him as she grabs her shirt off the floor then takes his hand and begins leading him to her room.

That night he makes her feel like the most beautiful women in the world. That night he makes each of her scars feel like a work of fine art. 

That night he makes her feel flawless.

**Author's Note:**

> I got a request on tumblr for a romanogers fic with the prompt: 41.“Show me your scars.” “But… why?” “I want to see how many times you needed me and I wasn’t there.” from [this](https://bat-trxsh.tumblr.com/post/163040084817/prompt-list) prompt list. I did not create that prompt list, I just reblogged it. If you would like to request a fic you can find my blog [here](https://frostilyfiction.tumblr.com/). I didn't go with those words exactly in the fic but I hope it really captured the essence of the prompt. The request was anonymous so if you're reading this fic anon I hope you enjoy! Hope you all enjoy!
> 
> Kudos and comments are much appreciated!
> 
> Also, yes, I do give a dig at Hulktasha because (while I don't hate Bruce) I do hate that fucking ship and it's what ruined Age of Ultron. Like maybe if they'd not wasted time on it and did better building Ultron up as a villian it would've been a better movie.


End file.
